Best Dressed Women At The 2026 Met Gala

The Metropolitan Museum's steps were dressed as mossy garden brick this year.

Costume Art — the exhibition behind the night — wanted us to remember that fashion has always been a fine art, and that the body itself is the oldest gallery we have. So no, this wasn't a year for safe gowns and a wave to the photographers. It was a year for statements, art projects, and art legends coming back to life.

The guest list certainly behaved that way. Beyoncé returned after a decade. Rihanna and A$AP Rocky shut the carpet down in their usual fashionably late manner. A protest flickered at the foot of the steps and was just as quickly contained — a reminder that the Bezos-funded gala was, this year, also a political object. And still, somehow, $42 million was raised, and Andrew Bolton's exhibition managed to make the case, again, that clothing is not a footnote to art history but its quiet co-author.

What landed was specific. Kylie Jenner wearing a body that was technically not hers. Hailey Bieber resurrecting a 1969 Saint Laurent breastplate. Madonna pulling a Leonora Carrington painting off the wall and onto her shoulders. The literal-minded interpretations worked because they were committed; the abstract ones worked because they trusted the room to keep up. This was a Met Gala that asked its attendees to read the wall text — and most of them, gratifyingly, had.

Here are the 32 best dressed women of the night.

Beyonce wore a silvered skeleton gown under a giant feathered cape. She walked the carpet with Jay-Z and 14-year-old Blue Ivy.

Chamberlain wore a hand-painted multi-coloured gown by Miguel Castro Freitas, drawing from archival Mugler — including a 1997 butterfly dress.

Kylie wore a nude-illusion corset over a duchess satin skirt by Daniel Roseberry, with 2,000 satin balls, 10,000 baroque pearls, and 7,000 painted fish scales. It took over 11,000 hours of embroidery to make this outfit.

Chase wore a trompe l'oeil gown referencing the Venus de Milo, built from 1.5 million stacked sequins and tiered silk fringes in over 600 colours.

Gigi wore a custom dress pulling flames from spring 2011 and a sheer silhouette from spring 1998.

Gwendoline wore a theatrical gown by her partner, referencing John Singer Sargent, Madame Yevonde, and Ira Cohen.

Kravitz wore a sculptural lace dress. But the real deal was the New Jessica McCormack engagement ring from Harry Styles on display.

Hathaway wore a gown made in collaboration with artist James McGough, whose illustrations were inspired by Keats's Ode on a Grecian Urn.

Carpenter wore a tulle slit dress made of celluloid film strips — from the 1954 film Sabrina.

Abrams wore a golden lace and nude chiffon Chanel gown inspired by Gustav Klimt. It took 294 hours to make and has around 5,150 embroidery elements.

A bejeweled finger embroidered onto the dress, mirrored by a real one resting against it.

The Met Gala debut of Jack McCollough and Lazaro Hernandez at Loewe — cool girl rather than goddess.

For her 11th Met Gala appearance, Lively wore a spring 2006 Versace gown in powdery Rococo hues, with a 13-foot train added for the occasion.

A custom liquid jersey gown shaped like a white T-shirt, hand-dyed in tea.

Jacobson wore a Joan of Arc gown built from coins, safety pins, and found objects in place of chainmail. Finished with a chiffon ruff.

Bieber wore a gown by Anthony Vaccarello referencing the golden body plates Yves Saint Laurent created with Claude Lalanne for autumn-winter 1969.

Gu wore a dress in collaboration with artist duo A.A. Murakami. The dress was covered in 15,000 glass bubbles, while real bubbles drifted across the carpet.

A custom Prada gown referencing Gustav Klimt's 1912 Mäda Primavesi, which lives in the Met's collection.

A grey tulle dress and a mask made from a dollar bill, half-covering her face. She told media outlets that it represented "the 1 percent."

Bassett wore a pink gown inspired by Laura Wheeler Waring's 1927 painting Girl in Pink Dress, held in the Met's collection.

A shimmering custom Swarovski look referencing the Venus de Milo and 기녀, the female courtesans of the Joseon dynasty.

A Baroque-inspired silhouette anchored by a handwoven Kanjivaram, built with Shola — a fragile West Bengal craft — reinterpreted with master artisans.